| Address: New Delhi, Delhi |
SUB:
LACK OF SERVICE, ASSURANCE TO PROVIDE EXTRA PIZZA TO COMPENSATE LACK OF SERVICE
& THREAT BY MIS-USING POLICE MACHINERY - RESULTING IN HUNGER AGONY, SERIOUS
THREATENING CALLS AT NIGHT
It
is to submit that yesterday, i.e, 22.10.2014 at 10:08 PM I ordered 5 (Five)
dominos pizza Large size Veg. telephonic by Order no.335. at Dominos Bhikaji Cama
Place (bill indicating the time of order enclosed).
As
per the delivery terms of Dominos, the order was supposed to be delivered
within half-an-hour (30 minutes) from time of placing the order, as is advertised
everywhere by Dominos through its “30 minutes guarantee”. As I understand, the printing of "DELIVERY EXPERT GUARANTEE - 30 MINUTES
OR FREE" highlighted and printed on their menu pamphlets and delivery bags
is meant clearly for CUSTOMER SATISFACTION OF DOMINOS PRODUCT, and THEIR
EFFICIENT TIMELY DELIVERY SERVICE, QUALITY SERVICE AT CUSTOMER'S DOOR-STEP.
I
personally appreciate dominos initiative and sincere effort on this front, i.e,
Customer satisfaction, efficient & timely delivery service, quality service
at customers’ door-step.
However,
to my utter dismay, children’s hunger agony and embarrassment in front my guests,
dominos failed to honour its own commitment and T&Cs yesterday.
I
did not receive any calls from either Dominos or its delivery boy about the
delivery till 10:45 PM. So, at my own
initiative, I called dominos at Bhikaji cama place and enquired about the
delivery of pizzas since my family members, guests and children were eagerly
awaiting for having a sumptuous dinner from dominos that too on a festive
occasion like diwali. Telephonically at
10:45 pm, I was told that the delivery boy is on his way and will come within
another 10 minutes. But nobody turned up
for delivery. At 10:51 pm I received
call from delivery boy that I am standing behind House no. 1072, Sector-3
R.K.Puram but there is nobody at that House.
How is that possible? I explained the exact location of my house, which
is a prominent place near Balaji Mandir or Venkateswara Mandir. I and my son
checked in and around the vicinity and found no one from Dominos. There is only
one House with the no. 1072, at Sector-3 R.K.Puram and that is a fact and
nobody can deny it or pretend to deny that fact.
The
factual question is:
Q.1
WHERE WAS THE DELIVERY BOY IDLING HIS TIME – WHETHER FOR DELIVERY OF PIZZAS OR
ELSE SOME OTHER PURPOSE? I tried hard to contact and guide him about my
location but his mobile was switched off.
On
asking about the cause of this INORDINATE/UNREASONABLE DELAY At 11.05 pm, I was informed that the
delivery person has returned back to the Dominos outlet and they are sending
another delivery personnel instead since the previous one did not have any idea
of the area and house location. I was standing in one of the gates to the
colony, my son was standing on the alternate gate and another family friend in
front of the house not to miss out the delivery personnel. When contacted
again, the pretext taken by the dominos was-
THAT OUR ORDER NO. 335 WAS A BULK ORDER, AND ANY ORDER OF MORE THAN 4
PIZZAS OR MORE IS NOT COVERED BY SERVICE GUARANTEE OF 30 MINUTES OR FREE. This fact was not communicated at the time of
placing the order. The Dominos mentions everywhere about its “HOT ‘n’ fresh 30
Minutes Guarantee” and yesterday I realised that this is mentioned for its
sales promotion and revenue generation only like any such other pizza business
player. It is probably immaterial for the Dominos whether or not the pizza is
timely delivered, hot ‘n’ fresh, or suitable for human consumption.
Be
that as it may, it is so amazing how a company like dominos can fool around
public, its pizza-lovers, only for the reason of placing bulk orders through
which its generating bulk revenue. It is
highly questionable that whereas the Dominos is interested only in generating
bulk revenues/income through bulk orders
placed with it but whereas it showing scanty, meagre or no interest in honouring
its commitment of quality, timely delivery of fresh pizza suitable and, of
course, enjoyable to human consumption.
I personally take this action of dominos as purely irresponsible and
profit-oriented
Now
again the factual question:
Q.2
WHY THIS ACTION OF SENDING ANOTHER BOY NOT TAKEN EARLIER SO AS TO ENSURE TIMELY
DELIVERY OF PIZZAS TO CUSTOMER DOORSTEP?
MOREOVER,
ANOTHER FACTUAL QUESTION ARISES –
Q.3 DOMINOS
IS NOT EMPLOYING TRAINED AND SKILLED PERSONNEL FOR ITS DELIVERY OF PIZZAS? OR
HAS FAILED TO IMPART THEM THE NECESSARY TRAINING?
Finally,
around 11.35 pm or so the second delivery boy arrived, delivered the cold,
stale pizzas after suffering so much of mental agony, torture, hunger agony,
harassment, lack of customer service, irresponsible attitude and behaviour on
the part of dominos personnel. By that time some of my guests had already left
without having food.
NOW
THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION, COROLLARY TO ABOVE SEQUENCE OF EVENTS IS –
Q.4 WHAT
WILL BE QUALITY OF PIZZA DELIVERED TO THE CUSTOMER AFTER SO MUCH DELAY?
ALL
THE ABOVE POINTS CLEARLY POINTS OUT LACK OF CUSTOMER ORIENTED SERVICE ON THE
PART OF DOMINOS OR, ITS LACK OF INTEREST TO PROVIDE REQUIRED, NECESSARY SERVICE
IN ENSURING TIMELY AND QUALITY DELIVERY OF PIZZA TO ITS VALUED CUSTOMERS HENCE
NOT CARING FOR ITS OWN CUSTOMER PATRONAGE.
Now
the delivery personnel had his own defence that the menu card says that there
are certain terms and conditions that apply in certain cases irrespective of
the ‘all pervasive’ guarantee and full payment should be made. The point raised
by me was that I was not reading from the menu card. From home I called the
outlet and enquired about the variety of pizzas available under the large
category and placed the order and that no exemptions were communicated at that time. If
no exemption terms or conditions were stated at that time and accepted by me,
then they are not applicable on me. I said that someone should be liable for
the delay, for the delivery of hard cold pizzas and false statements that the
delivery man is standing in the vicinity while nobody was there. His statement
was that he is not responsible and hence it was told to him that he should talk
to the responsible person and tell us about what is the remedy for this
deficiency in services.
He
went away and after some time came another two people stated that the menu card
of Dominoes clearly states that the limit of the liability is Rs. 300/- and
that amount will be deducted from the bill amount for their admitted deficiency
of services. I asked if this limit has a range or is it applicable for all
orders whether it costs Rs.500/- or Rs.5000/- and the reply was that it is the
maximum whatever may be the amount. Since it was a Wednesday I remembered, I
asked if the ‘one plus one’ offer is there as advertised. They replied that
such offer is only in the ‘green park outlet’ and not at their outlet. The
discussion on the poor service, differential offers and the unreasonable cap on
the liability continued wherein Dominoes personnel made statements such as- (a)
pizza delivery personnel does not have the phone number of the customer and
hence he could not call. I replied that the number through which the customer
places the order is mentioned in the bill itself for which they replied that
the Dominoes people are very mindful of the traffic rules and hence they don’t
talk while driving. (b) they have the recording of mine refusing to pay and
they will take action accordingly. (c) I should return the pizzas back.
These
illogical lies, unnecessary statements and threats really irritated me as they
were unreasonable representations of the Dominoes representatives. Since it was
almost midnight, I said that the matter can be discussed next day with some
responsible Dominoes personnel as I found it as a futile argument.
The
persons from Dominoes discussed something over phone and were standing in front
of my house. Then the next thing I knew was that they had fetched a PCR van to
my residence stating that there is a fight going on. This really infuriated me
and I told the police that there is a dispute on the quality of services
rendered by Dominoes and that will be dealt as a service provider and service
recipient and there was no fight. Few of my guests who were still at my house at
this point also intervened and stated that the matter is clearly in the stage
of discussion over the pizza delivery
and this can be mutually resolved. The PCR went away and then one of our guests
talked with the Dominoes personnel and then they said that since the bill
amount cannot be reduced, they will deliver a free pizza tomorrow and this
settled the matter. They had a telephonic conversation with someone and instead
of coming to the house and they stated that they have instructions now to
escalate the matter and they will not accept anything.
When
I received a phone from the RK Puram Thana at around 1.30 to 1.40 AM, I
realised that the Dominoes people have gone to the police station for this
matter. This unpleasant development is highly unexpected of Dominoes’ repute
and I strongly object the decision of Dominoes to go the police instead of
interacting with the customer over an admitted deficiency of services.
It
was quite defaming that police had to visit my house or call me at midnight for
a dispute of bad pizza delivery. My major problem is that the Dominoes
personnel call me over phone they do not respond at all to my complaints on
services. Obviously, the calls are being recorded at your end. So, instead of
interacting with the customer and to address the complaints genuinely, they are
not responding at all for such statements. They instead repeatedly say over the
phone that the dispute is the bill amount and threaten that they have my
recording stating that I refuse to pay.
The
selected response of the Dominoes personnel to cover up the main dispute and to
escalate another over phone is not in good taste and this will not resolve the
issue. The last thing I get to hear from Mr. Bhushan Kumar (Bhikaji Kama outlet) on the day of Diwali is
that the matter has been further escalated to the Legal team and that they will
further sent recovery agents to my house.
One
thing I understand now is that the recordings done by the service provider like
this are not conducive to the dispute resolution and that the attending
Dominoes people do not address the real issue just to avoid the liability and
premeditatedly ask only such questions that will enable the “ESCALATIONS”.
Hence, I have decided not attend the calls of the Dominoes which will be conveniently recorded and deleted at your
end and which is against the customer rights to complaint about the product or
services. By threats such as “we have your recording” or that “we will send
recovery agents” etc from Dominoes personnel, I am constantly reminded of my
legal rights to quality service, privacy and against harassment of any sort.
Q.5 WHY
ARE THE PERSONNELS ENCOURAGED TO ESCALATE THE ISSUE BY TAKING UNREASONABLE
MEASURES INSTEAD OF INTERACTING WITH THE CUSTOMER
My
reasonable expectation is that as a business concern aiming to provide the best
customer services, you send a responsible person to communicate openly in this
regard AND resolve the issue.
Giridharan M
Aug 14, 2020
Complaint marked as Resolved